4 min read

REVIEW: SIX BY NICO, CANARY WHARF

We Get Six of the Best at Innovative Restaurant's New Mexico Tasting Menu Experience

Six By Nico is known for creating imaginative, six course tasting menus which change every six weeks, themed around a different place, memory or idea.

Most alarmingly - given the current, tumbleweed wallets of the hospitality scene - they are also famous for creating astonishingly affordable, luxury dining experiences. A six course menu of dishes so pretty, you don’t know whether to eat them or hang them on the wall is just £50. And the additional wine pairing option is £38.

This exciting and accessible combo is the secret to their success, and has seen Scottish chef, Nico Simeone's brand expand from one restaurant in Glasgow, to more than 15 across the UK, including its newly opened Oxford branch.

We head to their Canary Wharf restaurant - their biggest to date, spanning 4,219 sq ft - to review their shiny, new Mexico tasting menu, with wine pairing.

Previous menus have been inspired by themes including the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, with an edible, rice paper menu; Route 66; Childhood and their most popular, The Chippie - six posh twists on chip shop classics, like the deep fried Mars Bar with Irn-Bru sorbet.

The low-lit, Industrial-chic interior feels luxurious, but relaxed, with chequered floors, textured bronze walls, marble tables and a theatrical, gold tiled open kitchen, which our dining table faces.

The friendly and knowledgable waiter tells us that five of Six By Nico’s Big Cheeses spent 72 hours exploring Mexico City’s culinary scene, from hidden street food vendors, to renowned restaurants. They returned with recipes and inspiration for our dinner.

I get into the Latino spirit with an excellent Hibiscus and Mezcal Margarita - smoky, salty and smooth.

And the waiter brings a selection of snacks - an optional extra to the tasting menu - which include a Jenga pile of dangerously moreish goat’s cheese churros, topped with parmesan; some delicate sweetcorn ribs with Macha salsa; sourdough bread with spicy, Delirio Salsa and a pot of Adobo Chilli Gordal Olives.

The first of our dishes arrives in the form of the Tostada. A gloriously crunchy tortilla base, topped with juicy slices of prawn, burnt cucumber, guacamole and crème fraîche. It’s delicious and looks like something a rich hippy might hang from a necklace.

Course Two is the Elote - pleasingly crunchy and chewy sweetcorn fritters, artfully studded with lemon mayo and served with a spicy orb of salsa verde, framed by a creamy, ricotta Queso Fresco. This is paired with the light and zesty Fiano Avoglia dry white wine, from Puglia.

We marvel at how precisely the elaborate dishes are presented - each of my plates is a cookie cutter replica of my partner’s.

Next up, is their Barbacoa, a Kandinsky-eque plate of Calcot onions, meticulously striped in dark smoked ketchup and almond pesto, beside two soft mountains - one pork and garlic flavoured, and one onion - and topped with pork scratchings and roasted garlic emulsion.

This is served with my favourite wine of the meal - the strong, red, full-bodied Viile Metamorphosis, Cabernet Sauvignon from Romania.

My licked plate is swiftly replaced by my favourite dish of the experience, Caldo De Lubina, which means sea bass broth. This crispy skinned hunk of tender fish sits atop a wonderfully spicy and rich, white bean and chorizo broth, and sings with the flavours of Mexico.

This was inspired by Tijuana, a particularly ‘spicy’ area of Mexico that they visited, famous for the Tijuana Cartel. Its heat is beautifully balanced by the crisp, fruity Vale da Oliveira dry white wine it is paired with.

The Mole course is named after the tomato dip at the centre of our plates, accompanied by a chicken leg roulade, corn tamales and dotted with Serrano pepper emulsion. This arrives with Nachos - a £9 add-on to the six course menu - topped with Salsa, Confit Chicken, Queso Blanco, Tomatillo and Chilli.

I was not expecting to feel this full, when the first, delicate plate arrived. But I am approaching trouser-button-opening territory.

Thankfully, we have space for the sixth course - Pastel Roldan Tres Leches.

This is a light and tasty pecan cake, which is not too sweet and served with a vanilla and citrus, tres leches sorbet, and a dreamy Horchata dollop, inspired by the Mexican rice, milk, vanilla and cinnamon drink.

This is paired with a fizzy, red sparkling Lambrusco Reggiano wine, the perfect sweet, fruity and light toast to close the experience.

It’s tricky to get much change from a £50 note for a London pub lunch, so this luxury six course offering in these surroundings for that price feels like a win, for hospitality, and for the diners who can experience fun, theatrical, imaginative and accessible fine dining, without breaking the bank.

Six By Nico, Chancellor Passage, London E14 5EA. The new Mexico Tasting Menu is £50 pp. Optional wine pairing is £38. The menu runs until 30 June.
The restaurant group has just opened its latest branch in Oxford - RU3, 309 Westgate Roof Terrace, Oxford OX1 1TR - launching with their hit, The Chippie, tasting menu.